The Lake
A Sestina
My feet sank into the soft, receding sand
The brilliance of the sun heated its cold,
Its light frolicked in waves on the water,
I knelt and cupped in both of my hands,
The leaping rays caught in the lake.
Its coolness slipped through, dancing.
The next year I went alone to the beach, dancing
Barefoot, and ran through the mounds of sand
Splashing along the edge of the lake
And the moon’s gentle light seemed cold,
Shining with silver illumination on my hands
And rippling on the gentle water.
My siblings and I walked beside the water,
The wind caught my sister’s hair and set it dancing.
We held each others’ hands
And sprinted over the expanse of sand.
The clouds covered the sun, yet we didn’t feel cold
And we played for hours in the lake.
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In my imagination, it was another lake –
A mysterious, ancient body of water.
The worst of my troubles was the cold
But it couldn’t keep my feet from dancing.
We made worlds out of the sand,
And controlled the earth with our bare hands.
This year I hold my fear of the future in my hands,
While I watch the sunlight flicker on the lake.
I feel the rough softness of the sand,
And the cold lapping tongue of the water.
Across the sky the clouds are dancing,
And summer has chased away the cold.
But everything still seems a little bit cold,
And I’ve found that I have no power in these hands.
The world is too frightening for dancing –
Even on the perfect shores of the lake.
I can only see the darkness beneath the water,
I’m not satisfied with making castles out of sand.
And now I’m afraid to go back to the lake,
Fearful of what reflections I will see in the water –
Afraid the sun will not be enough to dissipate the cold.
